CROCHETERS: do you think you could make one of these?

[madametj]

http://www.ecoist.com/pc/viewPrd.asp...idproduct=2934

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this bag. the description says that is it hand crocheted. I may have to buy one just to see how its made so I can make some for my friends. plus my teacher collects coke tabs so she has literally huge bucketfuls of them in the classroom. (maybe if she saw the bag i could convince her to give me 200 tabs to make a bag out of )

so anyways if any of you think you make have the slightest idea of how these are made, please give me a hint.

Thanks!

[Jenelle]

Looks like the tabs are hooked together with rings or wire.

[madametj]

hmm, i still think they're crocheted together...

[Jenelle]

Oh, I guess it is crocheted.

Carry it as a coin purse inside a shoulder bag or alone as a tiny clutch; it’s just big enough to hold your car keys, cell phone, cash and a lipstick. Hand crocheted with 200 recycled aluminum pop-tops. Comes with nylon fabric liner and YKK zipper closure.

I have no idea how you would do it though.

[Jan in CA]

I'm fairly certain that it's some type of wire. I don't think yarn wouldn't hold up well with that metal.

ETA: just read the above post about it being crocheted. My answer then is no I wouldn't do it. Very clever though!

[segundoloteian]

Whoa! That is amazingly cool. I confess, I rather want one, too...maybe even enough to learn to crochet.

Just looking at it, I think a metallic silver novelty thread is used, looping in the tabs (that much, I'm sure, is rather obvious).

From playing with a crochet hook and a stitch holder for two minutes, I think it may be analogous to knitting with beads, perhaps threading tabs a few at a time and working circularly from bottom to top?

[madametj]

you may be right about the wire thing, but you should see how well their candy wrapper bags hold up!

I wonder what stich they used its hard to tell much from just a picture.

[Mariblue]

That's clever.
I'm not an expert at crochet, but I would hold two pop tabs together, so that they are one on top of the other so the two holes would be aligned, and you could simply stick the crochet hook through, draw up the wire, and pull it through the loop to chain them together. Do the same in the next holes. Then you'd grab two more pop tabs, and continue chaining them together. When you are done, you can open up the two sides and lay them flat. On one side would be the crochet chain, on the other, the loop, like what you see in the picture.
Kind of like how you'd crochet the squares of a blanket together.
Does that make sense?
Oh, and you'd want a finer gauge metal wire, like jewelry wire.
If you try this, post some pics so we can see!
ETA: On closer inspection, I agree that it looks like some kind of stretchy silver novelty thread too.

[madametj]

That's clever.
I'm not an expert at crochet, but I would hold two pop tabs together, so that they are one on top of the other so the two holes would be aligned, and you could simply stick the crochet hook through, draw up the wire, and pull it through the loop to chain them together. Do the same in the next holes. Then you'd grab two more pop tabs, and continue chaining them together. When you are done, you can open up the two sides and lay them flat. On one side would be the crochet chain, on the other, the loop, like what you see in the picture.
Kind of like how you'd crochet the squares of a blanket together.
Does that make sense?
Oh, and you'd want a finer gauge metal wire, like jewelry wire.
If you try this, post some pics so we can see!
ETA: On closer inspection, I agree that it looks like some kind of stretchy silver novelty thread too.

I think I know what you mean. know i'm starting to wonder, if it is yarn, what weight is it?

[purlwise]

I don't think it is wire myself. Looks like a silver yarn/thread probably with nylon. To me it looks like you would do as the previous indicated in holding the tabs together, but to me it looks like you would be holding 2 strands of thread together to get the look of 4 strands around each tab. Also on closer inspection if you look at the purse from the left to right you can see the tabs are over lapped the same way, until you get to the last three "columns" on the right where they over lap the opposite way, prehaps to make that side "rounder" You would definitely have to make it in two pieces I think. hmmm, love a problem, going to raid the recycle bin to find some pop tops. I don't think mine have two holes though, I will have to look. I'll be back.